Coin or token dispenser



Feb. 19, 1963 i F. HILTON 3,

COIN OR TOKEN DISPENSER Filed Jan. 1'7. 1961 FREDERICK l-lll. TON

BY FrcJ- E. SAaemaAEv- Fred 1.. W1 flrers zgbgxm Unite States Patent Ofitice 3,077,393 CGIN R TGKEN DESPENSER Frederick Hilton, 102 E. Fort King Ave, Ucala, Fla. Filed Jan. 17, 1961, Ser. No. 83,189 5 Claims. (Cl. 133-5) This invention relates to coin or token dispensers of general usage, and, more particularly, to such devices for use with or for direct incorporation in or with the structure of rural free delivery or city home-style mail boxes to provide for the delivery to the R.F.D. or mail carrier of coins or tokens in an amount necessary to pay postage due on letters or parcels and, in the case of R.F.D. boxes to pay for the postage stamps required on mail placed in the box for collection and delivery thereby relieving the carrier of the time consuming job of making contact with some occupant of the home for the purpose.

The general object of the present invention is to provide novel coin or token dispensers either for independent usage or for direct incorporation onto an inner wall of a mail box of any of the generally accepted types now in use at the entrance to homes or on posts at the driveway entrances to farms and rural residences.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a coin dispenser of simplified construction providing twin, coin-storage chutes arranged to hold coins in parallel, side-by-side, edge-wise, arranged stacks with dispensing means arranged for manual oscillation, to deliver coins alternately from the stacks, with a minimum of required movement, whereby in some cases the fingers of one hand may directly receive coins from the delivery chute while the thumb thereof manipulates the dispensing means.

Another object of the invention resides in the arrangement of the chutes and the manner of forming them from a single, thin, sheet of metal to simplify its construction and facilitate the storage of coins on edge in side-by-side stacks to thereby reduce the required movement of the manipulator and dispensing device to a minimum.

Still another object of the invention resides in the close disposition of and the edge-to-edge arrangement of the coin chutes, each to hold a stack of coins for alternate delivery, this being facilitated by the chute arrangement which also produces minimum internal protrusion of the chutes from the supporting box wall so as not to interfere with the capacity of the box for holding mail.

An important object of the device resides in a construction involving a minimum of simple parts including a single piece housing or shell arranged to provide the coin chutes and hold the delivery means and adapted to be completed by a vertical wall or fiat side of a conventional mail box, thereby lowering the cost of the device and providing for substantially automatic mounting of the same at the time the box is manufactured.

An important feature resulting from using the shell of the box to complete the dispenser chute assembly is the protection given the latter by the box which encloses the dispenser to prevent the entry of rain or snow.

A further important feature of the invention resides in the construction of the one-piece housing shell for the dispenser chutes to incorporate struck-up central divider members for separating the parallel coin chutes, some of which incorporate mounting tabs for holding the shell assembled against the wall of the box.

Other and further important objects and features of the invention will be more apparent to those skilled in the art upon a consideration of the following specification and accompanying drawings wherein are disclosed several exemplary embodiments of the invention, with the 3,977,893 Patented Feb. 19, 19 63 understanding that such changes and modifications may be made therein as falls within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In said drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an interior perspective view of a rural free delivery mail box showing the coin dispenser of the present invention mounted therein and actually delivering coins.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation, partly broken away, illustrating the coin dispenser of the present invention mounted in a household mail box and showing the manner of dispensing coins therefrom;

FIGURE 3 is an elevation of the open or chute side of the housing or coin holder portion of the dispenser showing the coin distributor mechanism in position;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical section taken transversely to the view of FIGURE 3 and on line 44 thereof, showing the mounting tabs in their original formed position prior to assembly with the mail box;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of the combined coin retainer and dispenser; and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the assembled chute unit and dispenser mounted therein, looking toward the inside or coin chute portion thereof.

The present application is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending application, Serial No. 721,021, filed March 26, 1958 entitled Postage Due Payer, now abandoned.

It has become common practice for users of rural free delivery mail boxes, as well as those of the household type mounted in the vestibule or on a porch, to leave coins in the box when desiring to purchase stamps for outgoing mail, but they cannot anticipate incoming postage-due mail. Excess coins left on the bottom or floor of the box are a nuisance, often being dragged out with letters, papers or parcels and lost in the dust, mud, grass or shrubbery. In cold weather and under exposed conditions the coins may become frozen or frosted to the box floor and one of the foremost complaints of rural free delivery postman, at a recent convention, was broken finger nails from trying to loosen such coins.

The present invention provides a convenient coin holder and dispenser, taking up a minimum of space inside the mail box where the coins and mechanism are above the bottom, away from moisture or condensation, yet readily available for delivery of one or more coins to the carrier for the purchase of stamps or for the payment of postage due, often saving him the, perhaps, lengthy trip to the house or barn in the attempt to find someone to pay him, or alternatively carrying the letter back several times. Manv postmen pay the small charges themselves to save time and trouble and are seldom re-imbursed.

Referring now to the drawings for a better understanding of the invention and first to FIGURE 1 for an overall disclosure thereof as assembled in an R.F.D. mail box illustrated in general by the reference character 10, it will be noted that the dispenser itself designated 12 is secured against one vertical side wall of the box and comprises, as best seen in FIGURES 3, 4, and 6, a single relatively thin sheet of metal 15 of generally elongated shape having parallel edges 16 spaced apart a distance somewhat greater than twice the diameter of a coin adapted to be received therein with each of these edges having a turned-up flange 17 extending at right angles to the plane of the main sheet 15 to a distance somewhat greater than the thickness of a coin. Thus, when the edges of the flanges 17 are secured against the Wall of a box, as seen in FIGURE 1, there is room for two rows of coins to be contained therein and delivered therefrom. These rows of coins are spaced apart in two separate chutes by a plurality aorasss of ali ned lugs 18, centrally arranged of the plate 15, and formed by punching and bending from the metal of the sheet 15. These lugs are turned up at right angles to the plane of the sheet about one of the edges of the opening 19 from which they are stuck. They provide substantially continuous chutes 29 and El separated by the lugs 1%, which while not continuous are spaced apart less than the diameter of a coin leaving intervening metal to hold the plate 15 intact. Since the plate is secured against the inner face or wall of the box at an angle as shown in FIGURE 1, to provide great chute length, the upper edge 23 of the plate is cut oil at an angle so that it is substantially horizontal when mounted facilitating the insertion of coins into the upper ends of the pair of parallel chutes. One edged wall 17 is curved as at 24 in order to deliver the coins forwardly rather than downwardly and the lower end is cut off at an angle as at 25 to facilitate the exit of the coins in the manner illustrated in FIGURE l near the front edge of the bottom wall 2-6 of the box. Each chute is capable of holding approximately ten coins of any size desired for the purpose to which the device is-putand, of course, the number of coins is solely dependent-upon their size and the space available for the chute unit.

The lugs it; which are normally of a height when bent at right angles, equivalent to that of the chute edges 17,

are in some instances (two shown) extended by means of tabs 27 of less vertical height, m. in the direction of the length of the. chutes and are adapted to fit through slots in the mounting wall of the mail box and there bent 'overas seen at 27' in FIGURE 2 preferably in opposite directions, as shown, to secure the chute unit in position against the wall of the box which completes the outer wall of the chutes.

In FIGURE 2, which illustrates the side of an ordinary household mail box such as used on porches and/or adjacent front'doors, the same chute unit 12 may be used mounted however vertically because of the size and con figuration of the box, with the outlet 25 adjacent a slot 28 in the bottom oi the box through which the coins may be delivered, since normally there is no front door to open as shown at 29 in the rural box. Access to this type of box in most cases is solely by opening the sloping closure lid 39, hinged at 31 to the back wall.

As shown in FlGURES 3 and 4, the partition lugs 1% stop above the bottoms of the chutes, at a position 33 so that the channels merge into a single one 34 which maybe referred to as a dispensing area delivering into the outlet 25 previously referred to.

In alignment with and belov. the end of the partition lugs 18 is the axle 3 of the combined coin retainer and dispenser plate 36 of generally hour-glass shape having the centrally disposed shaft secured rigidly in the plate and projecting from both faces thereof, the plate being or substantially the same thickness as a coin. The shaft has its inner end journalled in a hole 37 in the plate 15 and the outer end in a correspondingly aligned hole in the wall of the box, not shown in connection with the RED. box, but seen at 38 in FIGURE 2.

The dispenser plate is limited in its oscillatory movement by an elongated handle rod 39 secured therein below the axle and projecting outwardly through arcuate slot 46 formed in the Wall of the box and sized to limit its movement to just the necessary amount to cause the plate 36 to deliver a coin at either end of its arc of movement. This rod or handle 39 protrudes sufficiently through the outer wall of the box for manipulation manually, and, provision is made to hold the plate 36 in either of its extremes of position by suitable detent mechanism such as the two projections 41 on plate an adapted to cooperate selectively with a dimple 42 in plate 15 whereby the dispenser plate is frictionally held in either the position 'mdicated in FlGURE 3 or in the corresponding reverse position as permitted by the length of the arcuate slot ail. The co-operation of one of the projections or the other with the dimple assures that the delivery plate' remain in either of its two terminal positions so that the unbalanced weight of the coins in one of the chutes does not cause it to oscillate and continue delivery after once started.

The plate 35 has a narrow waist because of the concave sides 44 and 45' and preferably has a concave upper end as. The concave sides accommodate the curved edges of coins which can fit between the curve of the plate and the adjacent wall 17 of the dispensing area, the coins being arranged in the chutes as seen, the latter being somewhat wider than the diameter of a coin to increase he number which can be accommodated.

When the plate 36 is moved to the position illustrated in FIGURE 3 its lower right lobe supports the stack of coins to the right while the lower left lobe releases the lowermost coin 43 in the left stack which drops as indicated in the dotted position 48' and finally falls to the bottom of the mail box where it can be readily removed by the carrier. As the plate is tilted in a counter-clockwise direction to release coin it; the tip at the junction of concave side 45 and concave top as moves beneath the next coin 56' above the one which is released and supports the stack at the left as shown while the lobe at the lower portion of'the concave edge 44 moves to support the stack at the right as noted above.

When the operator moves the lever to tilt the plate 36 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 3 the which is released by concave side 4:3 receivm the coin the tip above it, i.e. the coin numbered 5t while the coin 52 on the right side, is dropped and the one above it supported by the right upper tip. Thus, for each tilting of the plate in one direction or is released and these coins are alternately stacks.

taken from the The device just described thereby makes a number of coins readily available, one at a time, to the postman while occupying a minimum of space in the mail box The coins are kept up off the floor of the box, out of condensation, drip and splash and will not freeze. It desired the inner wall of the plate 15 may be slotted in each line of coins .for viewing the number therein, although some in the right hand slot will show through the opening from which the lugs The device just described hm already been indicated as available for use with household boxes of the type illustrated in FIGURE 2 and that illustration is believed to be adequate to indicate the manner of application and the use of such an arrangement. No change in shape of plate 12 is necessary although the upper end may be extended if desired to increase the number of coins accommodated and to bring it closer to the lid 30 of the box to facilitate charging. It may also be flared for ease in loading. In this construction since the bottom and front of the box is seldom opened or even arranged to be opened the slot 28 is provided so that the coins may drop into the hand, the thumb of which operates the handle 39, thus, making a one-handed operation for the mail carrier.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

I 1. The combination with a mail box having a substantially vertical side wall and an access door, of a coin holder and dispenser comprising a thin, flat, elongated, metal sheet of a width greater than twice the diameter of a coin of the type adapted to be received in the holder, said sheet having edge flanges thereon extending from the plane thereof slightly more than the thickness of a coin, flaps formed from said sheet and spaced apart the other a single coin 18 have been punched.

charge passage, a shaft extending through and supported in said sheet and wall, means on said shaft adapted to be oscillated to alternate positions to support the coins in either one groove while releasing one only from the other groove and supporting the remainder, and means outside said box wall connecting to said last mentioned means for manual actuation of that means to one or the other of said alternate positions to deliver coins one at a time from said passage.

2. The combination claimed in claim 1 in which at least two of said flaps have tabs extending therefrom through slots in said box wall and bent over in opposite directions to secure the sheet to the said wall.

3. The combination claimed in claim 2 in which cooperating detent means are provided on said sheet and said oscillatable means frictionally hold the latter in either of its stroke end positions.

4. The combination with an RED. mail box having a bottom, a vertical side wall and a curved top, of a coin holder and dispenser comprising a metal sheet having upturned flanges on two parallel edges thereof and flaps turned up from the center line thereof to form a pair of parallel chutes each of greater Width than the diameter of a coin to be received therein, means securing said formed sheet against the inner side of said vertical wall with its open lower end spaced above said bottom, its upper end below said curved top and its chutes inclined to the vertical to increase the coin capacity, said flaps terminating above said bottom whereby the chutes merge, means in said merged area to support coin stacks in said chutes and means outside said wall to manually tilt the coin stack supporting means to alternately discharge coins from the chutes successively, one for each oppositely directed tilt.

5. A coin dispenser comprising in combination, a pair of generally fiat outer plates, one forming the wall of a mail box, spacer means on the other of said plates separating them by a distance slightly more than the thickness of a coin, certain of said spacer means comprising bent edge flanges forming outer edge Walls for the length of at least the other plate, separator means formed and bent out from the other plate dividing the space between said edge walls into two chutes each sized to receive coin stacks flatwise and extending from one end of the other plate a distance less than that to the other end thereof, whereby coins introduced at said one end will slide toward the other by gravity when the dispenser is generally vertically disposed, a combined coin retainer and discharge device comprising a generally hour-glass shaped part, axle means extending through said plates and said part intermediate its ends to mount the latter immediately below said last-mentioned separator means, stop means on one of said plates to limit the oscillation of said part to alternately extend the lower part of said retm'ner into one or the other chute to retain the coins therein, the upper part of the retainer then moving into the other chute to retain all the coins therein above the one just released by said lower part moving out of that chute, operating means connected to said retainer and extending outside of said one plate and so located as .to be oscillated by the thumb when the fingers of the same hand are placed beneath the chute discharge end to receive coins therefrom, and friction means between the movable retainer assembly and one of said plates to hold the retainer frictionally against movement by coin weight.

References Cited in the file or this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 601,852 Gallwey Apr. 5, 1898 1,256,375 Ruby Feb. 12, 1918 1,546,498 Mann July 21, 1925 1,563,034 Levine Nov. 24, 1925 2,048,539 Curran July 21, 1936 2,210,875 Bauer Aug. 13, 1940 2,237,712 Mullins Apr. 8, 1941 2,265,696 Mullins Dec. 9, 1941 2,435,526 Young Feb. 3, 1948 2,539,855 Nelson Jan. 30, 1951 

1. THE COMBINATION WITH A MAIL BOX HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL SIDE WALL AND AN ACCESS DOOR, OF A COIN HOLDER AND DISPENSER COMPRISING A THIN, FLAT, ELONGATED, METAL SHEET OF A WIDTH GREATER THAN TWICE THE DIAMETER OF A COIN OF THE TYPE ADAPTED TO BE RECEIVED IN THE HOLDER, SAID SHEET HAVING EDGE FLANGES THEREON EXTENDING FROM THE PLANE THEREOF SLIGHTLY MORE THAN THE THICKNESS OF A COIN, FLAPS FORMED FROM SAID SHEET AND SPACED APART LONGITUDINALLY ALONG THE CENTER LINE AND TURNED UP AT RIGHT ANGLES THERETO TO DIVIDE THE SHEET INTO TWO PARALLEL, LONGITUDINAL CHUTES EACH SLIGHTLY WIDER THAN A COIN DIAMETER, MEANS SECURING SAID FORMED SHEET AGAINST THE INNER SIDE OF SAID VERTICAL WALL SO THAT THE WALL CLOSES THE CHUTES EXCEPT AT TOP AND BOTTOM, SAID FLAPS TERMINATING SHORT OF SAID BOTTOM TO MERGE THE CHUTES INTO A SINGLE DISCHARGE PASSAGE, A SHAFT EXTENDING THROUGH AND SUPPORTED IN SAID SHEET AND WALL, MEANS ON SAID SHAFT ADAPTED TO BE OSCILLATED TO ALTERNATE POSITIONS TO SUPPORT THE COINS IN EITHER ONE GROOVE WHILE RELEASING ONE ONLY FROM THE OTHER GROOVE AND SUPPORTING THE REMAINDER, AND MEANS OUTSIDE SAID BOX WALL CONNECTING TO SAID LAST MENTIONED MEANS FOR MANUAL ACTUATION OF THAT MEANS TO ONE OR THE OTHER OF SAID ALTERNATE POSITIONS TO DELIVER COINS ONE AT A TIME FROM SAID PASSAGE. 